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In addition to wise and hilarious writing advice, he incorporated some good exercises. One, in particular, got me thinking. What are traits of books I like – and, on the flip side, what are traits of books I do not like. Identifying these should help me focus my writing efforts and avoid bad habits.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 24th, 2007
by Jeri
and is filed under writing.
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Strange things happen under the midnight sun when teacher Holly McGee takes her troubled son Shane north with her as she takes on a new teaching job.

Global warming is beginning to ravage rural Alaska. Her new home in the tiny, bush village of Kitnigak is threatened by rising sea levels, swamplands that once were permafrost, and bizarre, unseasonal storms. Travel and freight shipments become difficult as the air strip sinks into the mire.

As the community starts to unravel under the struggle to adapt, the village angatkok takes an interest in Holly’s son. Could Shane’s odd ritualistic behavior and strange hallucinations help them find a path through the chaos around them? Or will he lose touch with reality and self-destruct without the medication they can no longer obtain from Outside?

Gawd that friggen ticks me off. I just picked up the latest, “Space Opera” anthology of short stories. The second or third story (I don’t remember the name) was so obtuse that I read 10 pages and still didn’t have the first clue whether the characters were people, computers, clones, in a virtual world, on crack, etc. Mind you, 10 pages is about halfway through… Sadly, I haven’t picked the book back up, and I realize it was only one story — but it sucked so hard that I couldn’t stand to see the book.

In retrospect, I think the story was set in a universe that may have been clear to a reader that knew the author — but I’m not that reader. So for me, it just hurt.

Good luck in November. My storyline isn’t quite as well thought out as yours.